By T.J. Buffenbarger
(August 11, 2025) — The upcoming weekend of sprint car racing in Michigan might be one of the best of the year for the three local sprint car entities. Friday at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Michigan and Saturday at Butler Motor Speedway in Quincy, Michigan you can see all three classes at least once, Great Lakes Super Sprints, Great Lakes Traditional Sprints, and winged 410 sprint cars by attending both days.
Both the GLSS and GLTS sprint cars go to I-96 Speedway Friday for their final appearances at that facility for the 2025 season.
The GLSS point title for the Michigan portion of the tour is still in doubt with Jared Hostman holding a 34-point lead over Max Stambaugh with three races left to go in that portion of the series.
Hostman’s team had to rebuild their entry during the last visit to I-96 after a flip in turn four in the heat race to be able to run the feature and maintain that advantage. Stambaugh has won the past three GLSS races in Michigan including victories last weekend at Hartford Motor Speedway and Silver Bullet Speedway to counter Hostman’s early season surge is making the GLSS Michigan championship interesting down the stretch.
On the GLTS side Steve Irwin holds a healthy advantage over Max Frank going into I-96 on Friday with only two events left on their calendar.
When GLTS visited I-96 in May, Ricky Lewis added another feature win to his healthy total for the 2025 season, proving that I-96 can be a wild card for both GLSS and GLTS as it tends to be a desirable location for teams to drop in for a race if they are not chasing points.
Butler on Saturday is the last 410/GLSS double header for the 2025 season. The championship at Butler has tightened up with Brad Lamberson holding a 24-point advantage over Josh Turner for the track championship with four events remaining on the 2025 calendar.
With a pair of big memorial races coming up honoring Chuck Wilson (August 23) and John Reeve (August 30) leading into Season Championship night on September 20th, Saturday could prove to be a pivotal moment for the Butler championship.
Other Notes….
• The Tri-State Sprint Cars offer up their third event of the year Saturday night at Auto City Speedway. The previous 12 cars that were on hand for the last event at Spartan Speedway are expected at Auto City a couple of different faces behind the wheel.
Modified standout Matt Demit is expected to make his sprint car debut driving the Nosal 42 that Jason Blonde typically drives. Blonde has prior commitments for Saturday. Look for George Gustafson back in the #97 car that was driven by South Africa’s Quintin Saayman at the previous race.
• After this weekend there are nine nights of sprint car racing remaining in the state of Michigan. The season will close on a high note with the USAC National Sprint Car Series returning to Michigan on September 27th at Butler.
• Pavement sprint car fans have one opportunity left to check out racing in state at Owosso Speedway for two nights August 30th and 31st for both the 410 and crate sprint car classes with Must See Racing.